NoMaas interviews Mark Newman

The honorable Sensei John Kreese of NoMaas interviewed Yankees VP of Baseball Ops Mark Newman, and it goes without saying that you should head over and read it. He asked some very tough questions, although Newman didn’t always give a direct answer. He did note that Hector Noesi is in the big league bullpen (and not starting for Triple-A Scranton) because winning in the majors is priority number one, and he welcomes the criticism. Newman also mentioned that Jesus Montero‘s focus on improving his defense may be hindering his offense. There’s also stuff about Andrew Brackman, J.R. Murphy, Gary Sanchez (“We have to discipline him on occasion, just like in any family.”), Tyler Clippard (“The mistake we made was not seeing what [he] looked like in the pen.”), and lots more. It gets RAB’s highest level of recommendation, so make sure you give it a read. Well worth your time.

Pitchers are not starters or relievers. Phil Hughes was a very valuable reliever and then was an All-Star starting pitcher in 2010. Phelps could be a starter or reliever. Where he ends up eventually, we’ll find out. In my personal view, we spend a lot of time and wasted energy on trying to prognosticate what a guy’s future role will be. Ultimately, the game will tell you. We went through that with Joba. There’s still people who want to argue that Joba should be a starter. It’s only an academic exercise now, but it seems to me that the game told us that he was a better reliever, even though he could start.

Interesting stuff..

I was mostly entertained by the comments there (mostly on earlier posts). It’s like a Bizarro world representation of RAB’s finest.

On Nomaas

I love Nomaas but I find that part annoying.

Jobberwocky

At they’re honest about the team. Here they compare Hughes and his 5 ERA to Lee and Halladay. Or they think a top 3 of CC, Colon, and Garcia are comparable to Beckett, Lester, and Buchholz.

Nigel Incubator-Jones

“honest about the team” I think you mean they have the same opinion of the team that I, Jobberwocky, have.

The comparison you a refering to, IIRC, was about year to date actual performance.

To each there own, I don’t find the comments annoying, I find them funny. But I admit, I am easily amused.

Nigel Incubator-Jones

*their

argh

Guest

“SJK: Well, let’s go back to what you said earlier in that the Yankees’ main priority is to win games at the big league level. Playing devil’s advocate, why wasn’t Montero brought up when Russell Martin went down to his back injury? Obviously, when it comes to at least hitting, there is no comparison between Cervelli and Montero. Why wasn’t Montero called up if the priority is to ‘win now?'”

This was so well played, I almost clapped while reading the article. Newman waxed philosophically — and somewhat persuasively — about using Noesi (and others) to help the team win now even if they’re contributions would be minor…and then he waxed philosophically about the need to develop Montero further in AAA.

Neither plan is bad. And my guess is they are treating Montero differently from Noesi because Montero’s development means more to them than Noesi’s (which is fair, but based on that logic, elite pitching prospects like Joba and Phil should have been treated the same way they are treating Montero). So I don’t really have a HUGE gripe with Newman’s answers.

I’m just glad the interviewer called him out on the discrepency and made him explain the reasoning underlying it.

http://johnsterling.blogspot.com/ Xstar7

Was promoting Slade Heathcott to Tampa because “he needs a challenge” really a good idea considering all the time he’s missed due to injury? I know he was playing well before the injury, but wouldn’t it make sense to wait for him to come back and see how well he plays before they promote him?

Jobberwocky

Hah, “honorable”.

Ass kisser. I love the fact that the homers here can’t hold a light to NoMaas.

Nigel Incubator-Jones

“can’t hold a light to”

What does this mean to you?

JohnnyC

Why curse the darkness when you can hold a light to NoMaas?

Guest

If you think that the authors of this site are homers, you really are not paying sufficient attention.

They — and most of the regular commenters — criticize players, coaches, front-office, and ownership on a regular basis. They may do so in reasoned tones and without hyperbolic language, but they don’t have any sacred cows.

http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa

And yet you’re here. Your shtick got old when you thought Manny Banuelos was big league ready.

David, Jr.

You are full of crap. No homers here. Very realistic. What you don’t understand is that realistic does not mean negative. For example, this year they have an 87% chance of making the playoffs. Perfect? No. More positives than negatives? Obviously. Negatives, including Jeter, consistently pointed out? Yes.

http://www.youcantpredictbaseball.com bexarama

Hi, Ultimate Yankee Warrior.

http://www.facebook.com/cecala Joseph Cecala

I was happy that one of the questions I suggested was asked to Newman (the one about the Slade promotion). I didn’t really like the answer and how he needed a challenge but it didn’t kill my buzz.

David, Jr.

Love NoMaas. It is all great, but the Cody Ransom stuff entered another dimension.

Ted Nelson

“SJK: So with Kennedy and Clippard, it wasn’t “they don’t throw 95, so we’ll make them available?”

MN: No. In Ian’s case, we liked him. We thought he would be a good pitcher, especially me and Cash. But, we were getting a premium position guy with power who had a manageable contract (Granderson). And we had a lot of pitching in our system.”

Thought this needed to be posted for emphasis.

Overall I find the interview really good. Would be fine with Newman taking over for Cash after reading that. Says most of the right things to make one believe he’s got a solid head on his shoulders.

Ted Nelson

Also “We have to make sure we don’t make decisions on small sample sizes.”